1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a microphone arrangement for stringed instruments, particularly for an electric guitar, comprising a body and at least one microphone to be attached to the body, said body comprising slide rails functioning as guides for the microphone in such a manner that the microphone is displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the body, which enables the position of the microphone to be altered in the direction of the strings of the instrument. The invention further relates to an electric guitar.
2. Prior Art
It is generally known that by changing the position of a microphone with respect to the strings of a guitar, the sound of the guitar and the volume produced can be altered. As it is desirable that many different sounds can be produced by a guitar, electric guitars are often provided with several microphones, usually with 2 to 4 microphones. Owing to the fact that the microphones are positioned in different places in the longitudinal direction with respect to the strings of the guitar, different sounds are produced by identical microphones. If different types of microphones are used, the tonality or sound can be altered even more. The number of microphones used at the same time has also an effect on the sound.
In order that as many sounds as possible might be obtained with a single microphone, it is known to mount the microphone displaceably in the longitudinal direction of the strings of the instrument. U.S. Pat. No. 2,455,567, for example, discloses an arrangement wherein the microphone is mounted to be guidable on a bar parallel to the strings of the instrument. The bar is stationary with respect to the body of the instrument, and the microphone arrangement is provided with guide grooves receiving said bar. U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,548 discloses a solution wherein the position of the microphones can be changed by means of a knob the shaft of which can slide in a long and narrow hole parallel to the strings of the guitar. WO Patent Application No. 88/02,534 discloses a microphone arrangement wherein the microphones can be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the strings of the instrument. For this purpose the microphone arrangement comprises plastic slide rails functioning as guides for the microphones.
The problem with the known microphone arrangements is that when the microphones are moved back and forth in the direction of the strings, the electric wires from the microphones get into a reciprocating motion, which exerts a fatiguing load on the electric wires. The electric wires do not endure such a load very long but they break, wherefore the guitar gets out of order. The breaking of the wires is particularly annoying because, for one thing, when they break, the amplifier of the guitar gives out an unpleasant sound, which completely ruins the performance and, for another, broken electric wires cannot be quickly repaired in situ, but in order that they might be repaired, the microphone arrangement has to be disassembled.
Another problem with the known microphone arrangements is that because there is a certain invariable maximum number of microphones in the guitar, the obtaining of different sounds from the guitar is restricted. In practice, about five microphones at the most can be positioned between the neck and bridge of the guitar, and if the microphones must further be displaceable in the direction of the strings, an even smaller number of microphones is to be used. In the known microphone arrangements it is not possible to detach a microphone quickly and easily in order to change the microphone type and obtain different sounds from the guitar. The detaching of microphones requires that the microphone arrangement be disassembled, which is quite laborious and cannot be done during a performance. For this reason, a demanding musician must sometimes have even three different guitars for the same performance in order to be able to produce all the sounds he wants by his instrument. Moreover, it is expensive to buy several instruments.